House Appropriations: Defense R&D Up; Civilian R&D Slashed

Initial accounts indicate that, as the House tackles its remaining funding bills, budget constraints are forcing cuts in civilian R&D. House appropriators are moving rapidly on the FY 2000 appropriations bills in an attempt to get much of the remaining work done before leaving for their scheduled recess on August 9. Within the past week, the House passed H.R. 2561, the Defense appropriations bill, and subcommittees have approved the Commerce-Justice-State and VA/HUD funding bills.

While the House’s DOD bill does well by defense R&D, it has been reported that the VA/HUD and the C-J-S bills make reductions to science and technology programs at NSF, NASA, and NIST. Both these bills were held until late in the appropriations process because of their large size and the difficulty of fitting them under the budget caps. House appropriators have started to rely on gimmicks to get around the problem; for example, Commerce appropriators in their bill designated the 2000 Census as “emergency” funding, while VA/HUD appropriators did the same for some veterans’ health care dollars. Funding designated as “emergency” is not counted against the caps.

DOD APPROPRIATIONS: The House passed H.R. 2561, the FY 2000 spending bill for the Defense Department, on July 22. Total DOD S&T (comprising categories 6.1 - Basic Research; 6.2 - Applied Research; and 6.3 - Advanced Technology Development) would be increased by $459.7 million (5.9 percent) over FY 1999 funding, to $8,250.8 million. Only one account, Army 6.3 funding, would be reduced from its current budget level. In all cases, the House recommends equal or higher funding levels for FY 2000 than President Clinton’s request.

COMMERCE, JUSTICE, STATE APPROPRIATIONS: The House C-J-S Appropriations Subcommittee reported its bill out on July 22. The full Appropriations Committee is scheduled to take it up this week. Accounts indicate that the subcommittee zeroed out funding for NIST’s Advanced Technology Program (ATP). The FY 2000 Request for ATP is $238.7 million, and the Senate appropriations bill would provide $226.5 million.

VA/HUD APPROPRIATIONS: Two days ago, the House VA/HUD Appropriations Subcommittee passed its FY 2000 spending bill. According to reports, appropriators would give NASA $12,253.8 million, a cut of 9.8 percent below the President’s request of $13,578.4 million, and 10.3 percent below the current funding level of $13,665.0 million. The subcommittee is apparently recommending a reduction to Office of Space Science in the range of 20-30 percent (from current funding and from the request), with cancellation of the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF). Earth Sciences would receive a cut of nearly 20 percent from current funding, and Life and Microgravity Sciences would remain approximately flat.

NSF would reportedly receive $3,646.8 million. This would be a cut of 7.0 percent from the request of $3,921.5 million, and 0.7 percent below the current funding level of $3,671.2 million. Research and Related Activities (R&RA) would get $2,778.5 million, a reduction of 7.5 percent from the request, but 0.3 percent over FY 1999 funding.

The VA/HUD bill is scheduled for full Appropriations Committee mark-up possibly this week. The Senate VA/HUD Appropriations Subcommittee has not yet produced their bill. Again, many of these reductions are based on early accounts of subcommittee action, and some cuts might be restored when the bills go to the full Appropriations Committee. The full committee’s recommendations will be disclosed in the accompanying reports. Further details on all these bills will be provided, as they become available, in subsequent FYIs.